Lavallee v. Med-1 Solutions, LLC

This case involves the question of
whether a debt collector complied with the requirement in the Fair Debt
Collection Practices Act that it, under certain conditions, "send the consumer
a written notice" (often called a validation notice) that sets forth certain
consumer’s rights under the Act. The
debt collector sought to comply with that requirement by sending the consumer
emails containing a link to an Internet-connected server from which the
consumer could purportedly obtain the validation notice. The trial court concluded that, under the
circumstances presented here, the debt collector did not "send" the consumer
the validation notice. The debt
collector appealed the case to the Seventh Circuit and argued, among other
things, that an electronic version of a validation notice satisfies the FDCPA’s
requirement that it send the consumer a "written notice." The Bureau’s brief argued that the Electronic
Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (or E-SIGN Act) applies to
electronic versions of validation notices. The brief also argued that, absent a regulatory exemption, electronic
versions of validation notices cannot be used to satisfy the "written notice" requirement in the FDCPA unless the consumer consents and other E-SIGN Act
requirements are met.